Police are patrolling outside churches and mosques in London as a precaution as controversy continues to rage over Pope Benedict’s comments about Islam.

Scotland Yard described the presence of officers near places of worship as "reassurance patrols", in an attempt to prevent any repeat the unrest seen elsewhere in the world.

"Reassurance patrols were put in place at the weekend at both Catholic and Christian churches and Muslim mosques. No incidents were reported. The patrols will continue as part of reassurance policing by the safer neighbourhood teams," said a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police.

Other British police forces are also believed to be mounting similar patrols.

Yesterday Scotland Yard said it would investigate a Muslim demonstration on Sunday outside the Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral in central London. Around 100 people took part in the protest, which passed off peacefully without any arrests, but police have received around 25 complaints about the event, mainly about the comments made by some of the protesters.

Muslims have staged angry demonstrations in many countries, and Islamic militant groups have threatened to kill Christians, after hearing reports of a speech that the Pope gave last week.

The pontiff raised the issue of violence and Islamic doctrine of jihad, and quoted a medieval text complaining that the Prophet Mohammad had urged believers to spread their faith by the sword. He did not make it clear that these were not his personal views.

On Sunday, as the storm of anger in the Muslim world gathered pace, Benedict said that he was very sorry for the offence he had caused, and stressed his commitment to inter-faith dialogue.

But although the Prime Minister of Malaysia, who chairs the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the world’s biggest Muslim bloc, today pronounced the apology "acceptable", others remain unmollified.

Mohammed Hussein, the Mufti of Jerusalem, today urged Palestinians to stop their attacks on churches in Gaza and the West Bank, but held the pontiff responsible for the outpouring of Muslim anger.

"So far, we consider the apology of the Vatican Pope insufficient," Mr Hussein told reporters. "We firmly ask the Vatican Pope to offer a personal, public and clear apology to the 1.5 billion Muslims in this world."

Al Qaeda militants in Iraq have vowed war on "worshippers of the cross", while Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, called the Pope's remarks "the latest chain of the crusade against Islam started by America’s Bush".

While most Christian leaders have urged that calm and reason should be allowed to prevail, at least one leading Catholic has expressed impatience at the Muslim rage.

Cardinal George Pell, the head of Australia’s 5.1 million Roman Catholics, said in an Internet statement: "The violent reaction in many parts of the Islamic world justified one of Pope Benedict’s main fears.

"They showed the link for many Islamists between religion and violence, their refusal to respond to criticism with rational arguments, but only with demonstrations, threats and actual violence."

Cardinal Pell said that he favoured dialogue between religions but described the reaction of some Muslim leaders in Australia as "unfortunately typical and unhelpful". He said: "Our major priority must be to maintain peace and harmony within the Australian community, but no lasting achievements can be grounded in fantasies and evasions."

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